From the Mid-West to the Mid-East

Goodbye WUJS, Shalom Nachlaot

In reference to my last post: It was a cat. Somehow a cat got stuck in our building and decided to take out it's anger on our doormat. We didn't realize the cat was there until the whole building began to smell like Zoo and then we came home to the vicious feline itself hissing next to our door. At some point it got let out, because its smell and gracious gifts have gone.

And so have I, gone that is. WUJS is over and changes are happening all over.

I spent the last Shabbat and week in Arad, visiting the mall and bar that make up my desert experience along with the people I shared it with. It's strange that the last week people seemed less friendly than ever, everyone quiet at the last concert and not even as lively as I remember at the last Shabbat dinner I was forced to face. Our little group, not intact, went to the Dead Sea for our last Shabbat outing. Graduation night was excellent though. Everyone dressed up and went to go get our diplomas (which I don't think many people actually received because they skipped too many classes). First were speeaches; self-involved and business-oriented Alon's speech, sweet and stuttering Jonathan, then Zahava the Ulpan wench all in purple (but this time in teal with her usual pruple glasses) told us something in Hebrew, and then Tugs threw as all with a very sincere, not at all cloying speech. I put together a presentation for PSJ which went over pretty well, people roughly laughed at the right times and no one was hurt. There was a hysterical movie put together by Meghan, and one put together by the staff, and then a montage which seemed to capture bad photographs of just about everyone.

So I'm a bit sad, or lonely. I'm happy WUJS is over, even that week back reminded me of how annoyed I am by the lack of organization and their hiring practices "Do you have no idea what you're doing? Come work for WUJS!" There was a great PSJ talk-back session and you know Jonathan was always trying.

SO NOW. I've just moved to an apartment in Nachlaot. It's a neighborhood made up of the very religious and the very derelict. It's "up and coming" so it has not yet come, so there's a lot of young people and you can find a handful of Americans. The neighborhood lies just south of the Mahene Yehuda Shuk, the big open-air market with rock-bottom prices but you're likely to get trampeled or assaulted by dying fish. I kind of love it. Just a block away and I can get most anything I want at individual stores that cater to cheese, salads, stuffed vegetables, or sponges. This area is made up of tiny little streets that cars can't fit through, and everytime I leave the apartment I get lost. The apartment itself is great. MY OWN BEDROOM, oh how I have missed thee! The apartment is a good flight of stairs up, and there's a kosher kitchen (Joshua, my flatmate is vegetarian so we're keeping it dairy), a living room with a COUCH, oh the joy of sitting on cushions, a half-bathroom, and a dining room table and chairs and bookcase, and a little balcony that overlooks the alley. The upstairs has two bedrooms and a bathroom with an AMERICAN-PRESSURE SHOWER, oh delightful thing that I don't mind holding since you get soap out of my hair. We also have an attic, which is now storing most of our friends bags. I'm already all moved in and today when I wasn't buying neccesity items like potato salad I was cleaning the bathroom. Oh yes, I CLEANED.

Back to my flatmate. You may have heard him called Yohoshua, Joise (French, pronounced Yo-sway), or even Yoshiyahu. He is one of my greatest friends from WUJS. British, funny beyond words, quiet to the point of being unintelligible, polite to the point of being obnoxious. He is a far cry from living with 4 other girls. He's left me alone, our first weekend together and he's gone to Tel Aviv, but hopefully when he gets back we'll be forced to amuse each other and have a lot of fun. Last night we walked back from Tmol Shilshom (near Ben Yehuda in the City Center) and he kept going on and on about how he is now a Jerusalemite! I'm so excited for us!

Still, I miss my ladys of the night.

posted by A Mus-Ed Blogger @ 7:47 AM